Has the former LibDem Campaigns guru been engaging in unsolicited electronic marketing?

If I want to market my product or service to you as an individual, the general rule is that I cannot do so by email unless I have your prior consent informing me that you wish to receive it. This applies to me (if, say, I’m promoting this blog by email), it applies to any business, it applies to political parties, and it also applies to Baron Rennard of Wavertree, when he is promoting his new memoirs. However, a recent media story about the Lord Rennard’s promotional activities suggests he may not be aware of his legal obligations here, and for someone who has held senior roles within the Liberal Democrats, someone renowned as a “formidable and widely respected practitioner of political campaigning”, this is rather concerning.

The law (regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (as amended)) outlaws the sending of unsolicited email marketing to individuals, unless the recipient has previously consented to receive the marketing (the exception to the general rule is that email marketing can be sent if the sender has obtained the recipient’s email address “in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient” and if it is explained to the recipient that they can opt out – this is often known as the “soft opt-in“).

Lord Rennard is reported as saying

I have emailed people from my address book, or using publicly available email addresses, about the publication of a volume of memoirs

But just because one already holds someone’s email address, or just because an email address is in the public domain, this does not justify or permit the sending of unsolicited marketing. The European Directive which the PEC Regulations implement makes clear that people have a right to respect for their correspondence within the context of electronic communications, and that this right is a part of the fundamental rights to respect for protection of personal data, and respect for a private and family life. It may be a lot to expect the average person sending an email promoting a book to know this, but when the sender is someone whose reputation is in part based on his skills as a political campaigner, we should surely expect better (I say “in part” because, of course, the Lord Rennard is known for other things as well).

At a time when the use of digital data for political campaigning purposes is under intense scrutiny, it will be interesting to see what the Information Commissioner (who is said to be investigating Rennard’s marketing exercise) says. It might not seem the most serious of issues, but it encapsulates a lot.

The views in this post (and indeed all posts on this blog) are my personal ones, and do not represent the views of any organisation I am involved with.